Austin-Bergstrom International (AUS) celebrated the opening Wednesday of its new consolidated rent-a-car facility.
The facility officially opened Oct. 1 and is a five-level, 1.6 million-square-foot space that includes all rental car operations: pick-up, drop-off, car storage, cleaning and fueling. Eleven rental car companies are housed in the facility, and it is estimated that more than 3,000 rental cars will pass through on an average day.
“Our experience with the team at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport was great,” says Mark Pfeffer, president and CEO of Pfeffer Development. “We believe the airport recognized the value in what the rental car companies proposed: bringing in an experienced CONRAC team to bundle design, construction, financing and deal term negotiations into a single delivery. On our side, we saw the factors that were important to the airport and worked hard to deliver so they could focus on other priorities. In the end, we achieved completion on the exact day we said we would and for the exact dollar amount promised – no change orders and no delays. Our team at Pfeffer Development and our sister company Conrac Solutions is proud of the result.”
The addition of the rental car facility frees up parking spots for the public. Rental cars used to be staged on the top level of AUS’ original parking garage. Moving the rental cars to the new facility opens up about 900 parking spaces. The project also covered what was previously part of Lot A, which was an open-air lot, creating a new parking garage with about 800 spaces.
“As Austin grows, attracting more visitors for both business and leisure, this facility improves our customer service to these travelers,” says Jim Smith, aviation director for the city of Austin. “The rental car facility adds capacity to better meet the demand of our customers.”
With the consolidation of rental services, the airport expects to reduce fuel consumption, traffic on airport roadways and vehicle exhaust. Rental car companies previously operated out of separate service centers, and cars had to be driven back and forth between them and the customer pick-up location. Reducing vehicle exhaust is expected to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 411.7 tons per year.
The project was built to meet the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Silver criteria and is wending its way through the certification process.
